Perils of Iran’s Web-Driven Revolution

The popular protests over Iran’s contested election are firmly rooted on the Web — on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Persian Websites. The potential of Tweeters, in particular, represents a “paradigm shift,” Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter, director of policy planning for the State Department, said last week.

The regime in Tehran has cracked down on-line dissent, with mixed results. Tehran has the tech to track Tweets, according to The Washington Times. Plus, despite Iranians’ voracious Internet appetite, there are just a handful of Internet Service Providers in Iran — and Tehran can restrict which URLs these ISPs make accessible. So protesters have turned to proxy servers, to dodge the regime’s Net filters, MSNBC notes. One Ohio man was reportedly attacked, by stone-throwing assailants, for helping set up these proxies.

But it’s not just official restrictions and rock-hurling thugs, imperiling on-line protesters. Twitspam has published a list of “fake Iran election Tweeters,” whose fraudulent Twitter feeds spread disinformation, and try to incite violence. “Buyer beware,” The New York Times warns:

Nothing on Twitter has been verified. While users can learn from experience to trust a certain Twitter account, it is still a matter of trust. And just as Twitter has helped get out first-hand reports from Tehran, it has also spread inaccurate information, perhaps even disinformation.

Other Tweeters work for the “good guys,” calling for their on-line comrades to Tweet false reports of protesters’ locations, in order to send Iranian cops on wild-goose chases.